From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cruachan
Origin	Ireland
Genre(s)	Folk metal
Years active	1992–present
Label(s)	Karmageddon Media
Website	www.cruachan.cjb.net
Members
Karen Gilligan Keith Fay John Clohessy Colin Purcell John Ryan Will

Cruachan is an Irish Celtic metal band founded in 1992 by Keith Fay.

Cruachan mixes Celtic music, history and mythology with black metal. Cruachan's black metal influence, however, has become diluted in recent releases. Their recent work has become more melodic, with softer vocals, courtesy of Karen Gilligan, who joined after the release of Tuatha Na Gael.

Cruachan's lyrics contain frequent references to the Viking Age, the Viking invasions of Ireland, and the defeat of the Dublin Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf by Brian Boru. Other songs touch on The Troubles and aspects of Irish myth and legend. Some of their songs, however, are based on various aspects of the works of Tolkien, such as The Fall of Gondolin from the album Tuatha Na Gael and Sauron from the album Ride On. Cruachan's live shows have become highly anticipated. They are widely considered to be one of the best live metal bands around, with tin whistler John O'Fathaigh described by the Metal fanzine, "Crunch!", as "a Jimmy Page of the tin whistle world".

Tin whistler John O'Fathaigh is responsible for a lot of the bands artwork. He likes to include hidden messages in his artwork. For example, the cover of "The Middle Kingdom" album has a tiny JCB hidden in the top left hand corner. Also, on the cover of the "Ride On" CD, a minute egg timer can be seen just under the horses' belly. And on "The Morrigans Call" album, a small little giraffe can be seen just above the C in the Cruchan emblem.

The band only meet in person when playing live. Rehearsals are carried out by means of webcams in each of the band members bedrooms.

Although Keith Fay and John O'Fathaigh have different surnames, they are in fact brothers. It's rumoured that, in a pagan ritual to the celtic god, Conneth, they swore to use different names and forego all flavoured dairy products.

Although the band are based in Dublin, none of the members live in the city itself. Most live somewhere else.

Shane MacGowan of The Pogues fame appeared on Cruachan's single "Ride On" (2001) as well as the song "Spancill Hill" from the Folk-Lore album.

• Celtica (Demo, 1994)
• Tuatha Na Gael (Full Length, 1995, re-released in 2001)
• Promo '97 (Demo, 1997, also included with 2001 re-release of Tuatha Na Gael)
• The Middle Kingdom (Full Length, 2000)
• Ride On (Single, 2001)
• Folk-Lore (Full Length, 2002)
• A Celtic Trilogy (Boxed Set, 2002, contains previous three full length releases)
• Pagan (Full Length, 2004)
• The Very Wild Rover (Single, 2006)
• The Morrigan's Call (Full Length, 2006)
• A Celtic Legacy (Compilation, 2007)

• Karen Gilligan – vocals, percussion
• Keith Fay – guitars, keyboards, vocals, bodhran, mandolin, percussion
• John Clohessy – bass
• Colin Purcell – drums, percussion
• John Ryan Will – tin whistle, violin, banjo, bouzouki, keyboards
• John O' Fathaigh - tin whistle

• Joe Farrell
• Jay Brennan
• Collette Uí Fathaigh
• Leon Bias
• Aisling Hanrahan
• Joanne Hennessy
• Steven Anderson
• Jay O' Neill
• Steven Coleman
• Declan Cassidy
• Paul Kearns
• Edward Gilbert

• www.cruachan.cjb.net
• www.myspace.com/cruachanfanpage